Monday, July 19, 2010

THINGS TO COME: SHARKTOPUS

After waiting almost a year since the title of this movie first surfaced, the time is nearing in which we patient B-fans will finally be able to revel in the unparalleled awesomeness that is… Sharktopus.

With Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts, no less.

Okay, so I’m sure not everyone has been as eager for the arrival of Sharktopus as I have. But, you know, looking forward to silly things like this always helps me to remember to keep the joy in “joyful expectation”. Every time I start to feel things dragging me down a bit, I can watch a trailer like this and be reminded that even the souls in Purgatory have a little smile on the inside knowing that better things are coming down the line.

10 comments:

So, even the souls in purgatory get to watch Sharktopus? That's cool. Of course, being purgatory, I bet the popcorn has synthetic "butter." And then they get all the unpopped bits forceably flossed out of their teeth with some sort of pressure washer arrangement...

Unfortunately, it has one of those trailers that practically shows the whole movie. I think it would have been better to have shown as little of Sharktopus as possible, delaying the payoff . . . You know, like Steven Spielberg did in Jaws. Or is that asking too much of a B-movie? =P

And Eric Roberts has got real star quality! Every time I see his name in the credits, I know I have a great B-movie on my hands. It is he, not Jason Statham, who is the B-movie king of our generation--and possibly (with apologies to Ronald Reagan, who took himself too seriously for what B-movies have become since his day) of all time!!!

Well, no, not if Purgatory is like it is in the movies where we all get our own custom made punishments. In that case, my local theater in Purgatory would only show Battlefield Earth.

"Unfortunately, it has one of those trailers that practically shows the whole movie."

I agree, but Corman knows how to sell a movie, so i think he might have a reason here. One of the main complaints against SyFy originals is that, due to their budgets, they recycle the same 3 or 4 CGI shots of the monster throughout the film. (For reference, see the Eric Roberts classic, Cyclops)Not in this one, though, as Sharktopus is all over the place. The effects are still low budget, but he's letting you know you'll get all the Sharktopus money will allow.

I've seen Cyclops; I thought that Eric Roberts's performance as the genially stingy Emperor Tiberius was one of the not-so-low points of the film. I suppose Tiberius had some considerable justification for his tightfistedness: the Imperial revenues of the entire Roman Empire seem to have been just enough for a Rome the size of a few city blocks, with a little left over for an army of about 30 men (but no archery training).